Genetic Engineering
基因工程

文/Christopher Barnatt
译/上海译锐翻译全职B档译员 Jason MA

Genetic engineering is the science of altering living things by changing the information encoded in their deoxyribonucleic acid or "DNA". Genetic information is stored in DNA using four different chemicals called adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. Abbreviated to the letters "A", "C", "G", and "T", these base chemicals are coupled together to form the linkages or "base pairs" that hold together the two spirals that comprise every DNA molecule.
基因工程是一门通过改变生物体内脱氧核糖核酸（或DNA）中的编码信息，进而使生物发生改变的学科。DNA通过四种不同的化学物质来储存基因信息。这四种化学物质分别是腺嘌呤、胞(核)嘧啶、鸟嘌呤和胸腺嘧啶。这四种基础化学物质（用字母“A”、“C”、“G”、“T”来表示）通过配对组合来形成碱基对。碱基对使每个DNA分子中都存在的双螺旋体相结合。

Any organism's entire genetic sequence is known as its "genome" and contains millions and often billions of DNA base pairs. For example, human DNA contains about three billion. However, rather than working with individual base pairs, genetic engineering is concerned with far larger DNA segments known as genes.
所有生物的完整基因序列也叫做基因组。完整的基因序列的DNA碱基对达数百万个以及数十亿个，而数量在数十亿的则更为常见。比如说，人类的DNA中就包含了大约30亿个碱基对。不过，基因工程所研究的并非是单个的碱基对，而是要比碱基对大的多的DNA片段。这种DNA片段也被称作基因。

A Broad Church
一个广泛的学科

Genetic engineering is a very broad discipline that is best broken down into its areas of practical application in order to be most easily understood. At the highest level, genetic engineering can be sub-divided into the creation of genetically modified (GM) plants, animals and micro-organisms, as well as the application of genetic engineering in healthcare, otherwise known as genetic medicine. In turn, genetic medicine may be usefully sub-divided into the fields of genetic testing, pharmacogenetics, and gene therapy.
基因工程是一门非常广泛的学科。为了使其便于理解，这里最好按照不同的应用领域对其进行细分。处在最上端的基因工程可以被细分为培育转基因植物、动物和微生物以及基因工程在医疗保健中的应用（亦被称作基因药物）。反过来，基因药物可以被细分为基因测试、遗传药理学和基因治疗。

GM Plants
转基因植物

All forms of genetic modification (GM) take one or more genes from one species and introduce it into the DNA of another in order to create a "transgenic" organism with different characteristics. So, for example, a plant may be made more resistant to disease, drought or pesticides by introducing a foreign gene from another species into its genome.
所有类型的转基因都是将一个物种中的一个或几个基因放入另外一个物种的DNA中，以培育出一种拥有不同特性的“转基因”生物。因此，当一个植物内的基因组中包含了来自另外一个物种的基因，那么这个植物对于疾病、旱灾或虫害可能会拥有更强的抵抗力。

One of the first GM plants was created at the University of California in 1986. Here, some tobacco plants were transgenically altered with a gene from a firefly to make them bioluminescent. The result was GM tobacco capable of emitting a glow.
1986年，在首批出现的转基因植物中，一种烟草转基因植物在加利福尼亚大学诞生。在加利福尼亚大学，这种烟草植物被加入了萤火虫的一个基因，以使其具有生物发光的特性。结果就是，这种转基因的烟草植物能够发光。

The first commercial GM plant was the Flavr Savr tomato. Created by Calgene, this was licensed for human consumption in 1994. Specifically, Calgene used "gene silencing" technology to shut down the gene that causes tomatoes to rot, so allowing the GM produce to stay firm for longer after harvest.
由Calgene公司所创造的“FLAVR SAVR”番茄是首个被商业化的转基因植物。1994年，“FLAVR SAVR”番茄获得许可，允许被人类食用。确切的说，Calgene公司通过利用“基因沉默”技术，关闭了导致番茄腐烂的基因，因此可以使番茄在采摘后拥有更长的保鲜期。

GM Animals
转基因动物

Transgenic animals have also already been created. Way back in 1986 the first transgenic mice were genetically altered to develop cancer. Since that time the creation of "humanised" transgenic mice and rats for research purposes has also almost become routine.
转基因动物也已经问世。早在1986年，第一批接受转基因的老鼠的基因发生改变并因此而患上癌症。从那时起，培育“具有人类特性”的转基因小鼠和大鼠以用于研究几乎已经成为惯例。

A new breed of "enviropig" has also now been transgenically created by the Guelph Transgenic Pig Research Program to produce a more environmentally-friendly form of manure. Back in 1996, the Roslin Institute in Scotland also successfully managed to clone a sheep called "Dolly" by transplanting an udder cell nucleus from one sheep into an empty egg cell from another. Since that time the same technique has been used to clone pigs, dogs and horses.
如今，一种新的转基因猪已经诞生。这种由圭尔夫转基因猪研究项目（Guelph Transgenic Pig Research Program）培育的新转基因猪可以排出更加环保的粪便。1996年，位于苏格兰的Roslin研究院通过将一头羊中的乳腺细胞核移植到另一头羊的无核卵细胞中，成功克隆出一只绵羊。他们给这只绵羊取名为“多莉”（Dolly）。从那时起，人们开始使用同样的技术来克隆猪、狗和马。

Today, we are on the brink of the approval of the first GM creature to enter the human food chain. Created by a company called Aqua Bounty Technologies, the AquAdvantage is a transgenic salmon that has had ocean pout and chinook salmon genes spliced into its DNA. The result is a fish that grows to full size in 18 rather than 36 months.
今天，首批转基因生物即将被允许出现在人类的食物链中。Aqua Bounty Technologies培育出一种被称为AquAdvantage的转基因三文鱼。这种三文鱼的DNA中被植入了大洋鳕鱼和大鳞大马哈鱼的基因。新培育的转基因三文鱼仅需要18个月就可以发育成熟，而普通的三文鱼则需要36个月。

GM Micro-organisms
转基因微生物

For centuries natural fermentation processes have been used to produce products including cheese, beer and yoghurt. However, since the birth of genetic engineering in the 1970s, genes have also been spliced between micro-organims in order to enable the creation of products using transgenic E.coli bacterium and other micro-organisms.Today, transgenic E.coli bacterium are used to produce all manner of things including chymosin (as required in the making of cheese), as well as synthetic insulin, human growth hormones, and first generation bioplastics and biofuels.
几百年来，人们一直使用天然的发酵工艺来制作奶酪、啤酒以及酸奶等食品。不过，自基因工程在20世纪70年代诞生以来，基因也开始被用于微生物之间的拼接，以利用转基因大肠杆菌和其他微生物来制作食品。如今，转基因大肠杆菌被用来生产各种包括凝乳酶（制作奶酪时需要）、人工合成胰岛素、人生长激素以及第一代生物塑料和生物燃料在内的各种产品。

Genetic Testing
基因测试

Ever since the completion of the Human Genome Project, hopes have been high for the application of genetic engineering in healthcare. While progress has been slower than the media anticipated -- and the role of most of the genes in human DNA is far from understood -- already more than 1,000 human genetic tests are available. These enable couples who conceive a child using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to have embryos screened for the genetic mutations that cause cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, spinal muscular atrophy, and a range of other conditions.
自人类基因组计划落幕后，人们对将基因工程应用于医疗保健领域一直抱有很高的期望。尽管进度比媒体所预想的慢一些，但目前已经有超过1000种针对人类基因检测了。因此，采用体外受精的夫妇可以通过基因检测对胚胎进行筛查，以排除能够引起囊性纤维化、镰状细胞病、脊髓性肌肉萎缩症和一系列其他病症的基因突变。

Major research is also underway into the genetics of cancer. For example the International Cancer Genome Consortium has been set up to generate genetic data on up to fifty of the most common types of cancer. In time, this work should allow doctors to test for and diagnose cancers based on their genetic characteristics. Further into the future, cancer gene therapies may also result.
有关癌症遗传学的主要研究也已经展开。例如，已经成立的国际癌症基因组联盟（International Cancer Genome Consortium）专门针对多达50种最常见的癌提供基因数据。届时，这些数据可以帮助医生根据癌的基因特性对其进行检测和诊断。将来，癌症基因疗法可能也会应运而生。

Pharmacogenetics
药物遗传学

Pharmacogenetics -- also known as pharmacogenomics -- is the study of how genes influence a person's response to drugs. It has always been obvious that different people respond differently to the same medication. However, it has usually not been known why. The promise of pharmacogenetics is to alter this situation by allowing doctors to select treatments based on the genetic makeup of each individual patient.
药物遗传学，也被称作药物基因组学是一项关于基因如何影响人类对药物的反应的研究。不同的患者对同一种药物会有不同的反应，这一点一直都是显而易见的。不过，这其中的原因却通常不为我们所知。药物遗传学有望改变这一局面，它能够让医生根据每位患者的基因组成来选择不同的治疗方法。

Pharmacogenetics will also allow prescriptions to be calculated based on a person's genetics rather than purely their weight and age. Vaccines will also be able to be genetically targeted, with different strains for different patient DNA profiles. In addition, pharmacogenetics will allow medicines that work very well in some people but cause major side effects in others to be safely brought to market as it will be known who will react badly to them and who will not.
药物遗传学还可以让医生根据患者的基因，而非仅根据患者的年龄和体重来配药。疫苗也可以做到具有基因针对性，即根据患者的DNA图谱来提供不同的菌株。此外，药物遗传学还可以让对于某些患者具有显著疗效，而对于另外一些患者却有明显副作用的药物能够安全投向市场。因为，药物遗传学可以帮助我们知道哪些患者在服用这些要后会产生副作用，而哪些患者则不会。

Gene Therapy
基因治疗

The ultimate goal of genetic medicine is to cure health complaints at the genetic level. Potentially, several mechanisms exist that could be used to insert additional or replacement genes into a patient's DNA. These include the use of gene transfer agent viruses known as "vectors" to deliver therapeutic genes to target patient cells. Alternatively, therapeutic genes may be coated with artificial liposomes. These fatty substances adhere to the surface of cells and may therefore encourage attached genes to enter into them.
基因医学的最终目的就是在基因层面使疾病得到根治。能采用的方法有好几种，都是通过将额外或替代基因植入到患者的DNA中。具体包括使用基因转移因子病毒，即“载体”来将治疗基因送到患者的细胞中。另外一种方法是在治疗基因的表面包裹一层人工脂质体。这些脂肪物质会粘附在细胞的表面，因此可能会促使所附带的基因进入到细胞内部。

The World of the Designer Baby
定制化的婴儿

Gene therapy and related genetic engineering research in human beings is currently tightly regulated (if to very different degrees in different parts of the world). However, we already live in the world of the designer baby, with IVF now widely used to help some couples conceive. Indeed, in the UK, about one child in fifty is now born as a result of IVF. Babies conceived via IVF are also routinely screened for genetic diseases. With certain embryos then consciously selected for implantation, human choices are thereby already being made regarding the characteristics of resultant children.
针对人类的基因疗法和相关的基因工程研究目前受到严格的监管。尽管如此，随着体外受精的广泛应用，定制化的婴儿已经到来。的确，在英国，借助体外受精而诞生的婴儿与通过正常受精而孕育的婴儿的比例为1：50。通过体外受精孕育的婴儿也要进行常规的筛查，以排除遗传性疾病。通过有意识的选择要植入的胚胎，人类其实已经就未来一代的特性做出选择了。

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